Is Fingerprint Identification a "Science"?

Fingerprint identification has been around for a long time. It has nearly a century of court acceptance in the United States. Yet, in the aftermath of United States Supreme Court cases like Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals (1993) and Kumho Tire v. Carmichael (1999), requiring courts to determine the reliability (validity) of underlying techniques before admitting expert opinion based on it, questions are bound to be raised about the scientific legitimacy of many of the techniques commonly used in crime laboratories, fingerprint identification among them.

Skilled examiners of fingerprint evidence agree that the process of comparing latent fingerprints of unknown origin with inked impressions of known origin is an "art," rather than a science. It requires an examiner to assess, on the basis of experience in dealing with thousands of fingerprints, what parts of an incomplete and partially blurred latent print show visible friction ridge detail that can be used for identification purposes. But whether fingerprint identification is "art" or "science" is clearly no longer relevant to a Daubert inquiry. What needs to be examined is whether the underlying premises upon which fingerprint identification are based have been empirically validated. And these premises are three-fold: (1) the friction ridge detail of the epidermis on the palm side of the hands2 remains unchanged during the lifetime of an individual, except for accidental or intentional scarification or alteration; (2) friction ridge pattern areas exhibit so much variety of detail that no two patterns are ever found to be exactly the same on the digits (or palms or soles of feet) of one individual or on the digits (or palms or soles of feet) of other individuals; (3) while these friction ridge patterns exhibit an infinite variety of detail, they nevertheless fall within certain broad classes or categories that permit police to store and retrieve millions of prints according to classification formulae.

Article: Moenssens, Andre A. "Is Fingerprint Identification a "Science"?". April 5 2006. Forensic-evidence.com. 06 June 2009. <http://www.forensic-evidence.com/site/ID/ID00004_2.html>